As per World Intellectual Property Organization and Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape by Havarad Business Press, globally, only 5-7 % and 5-25% of patents are licensed or commercialized. As per the IPR Bulletin -2021 report, in India, the patent to licensing/commercialization conversion percentage is 5%. This lower percentage is mainly attributed to economic viability, incorrect assumption, and stage of development of the inventions, among additional reasons. However, these three listed reasons can be addressed by reproducing large-scale innovation using a pilot production process. In this work, a pilot facility was developed and tested for bulk synthesis of arsenic removal material.
India has more than 12 states facing the pressing issue of arsenic-contaminated groundwater and requires an affordable solution. To address this, multiple region-specific lab-scale innovations require scaling up lab tests, conducting real-world tests, optimizing processes, and mitigating field risks. This makes Pilot plant facilities a need of the hour, as such facilities can enable process optimization and customization, efficient resource use, and minimize the risk by performance validation in the field.
This thesis research work focuses on designing, fabricating, and demonstrating the efficacy of a pilot plant facility by showing mass production of arsenic removal materials. The fabricated pilot plant has main and sub-reaction vessels and processes control mechanisms, including post-processing synthesized materials. For pilot production, optimal concentrations and composition of industrial-grade chemicals are identified in laboratory-scale experiments. Subsequently, bulk scale reactions are repeated using identified optimal concentrations and composition and addressing processing challenges such as solubility of industrial-grade sodium-carboxymethyl cellulose. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscope, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are used to characterize and confirm the product sample's stability, structural integrity, and arsenic adsorption capabilities.